Right now I'm using an old Starbucks Barista. I'm tired of the wet puck, slow steaming, & small portafilter, etc etc. Is it worthwhile to get a Gaggia or Silvia to tide me over for a year? I know they steam slowly, too.

I know it's overkill hence the "even though" in my original post. There was no need to be snotty. But thanks, at least I got my answer. ADDING that I'm hoping to host some parties around the holidays in the distant future (a few years)... but didn't think I needed to write my entire life freaking story in my post.

Without the newly stated desire of hosting parties -- but, truly, how many times will that happen? -- spending $$$$ on a DB for possible one or two drinks a day IS overkill, and (IMHO) a waste of money . . . but, of course, it's your money, so . . .

On the other hand, my point about the Gaggia -- and here, I admit, I wasn't as clear as I could have been -- it that I was perfectly happy with a Gaggia for 25 years, and felt no need to upgrade . . . until I was making more than one drink at a time, once or twice a day.

JasonBrandtLewis has almost 6000 posts and 8 years on CG.. he's got my ears!

I know where's you're coming from though, darkow. You sound like the type that should just go big right off the bat because you will ALWAYS be wondering. It took me 5-6 machines before being pretty happy for more than a year (and going).

I went the other route and did a lot of research for bang for my buck. I am still happy with my first real machine more than a year later. It was used and needed a few repairs. I did add a few things that make me love it even more. But it had the power what I did just added more control.

That to me, sounds like every single one of us when we got our first espresso machine. Not the real one, the first one. Same as what you have now. You're actually a step up, the Barista is a workable first machine.

However, once you get into a better machine, you're consumption goes up. Its easy to turn a morning latte into two or three when making one takes less then two minutes start to finish.

Im a dual boiler guy, I DO prefer them to HX machines, even though I will defend to death an HXs ability to make great coffee. I just find it much less of a hassle to use a dual boiler, and I enjoy the process that much more. But, everyone is different. Jason for instance will tell you that he has absolutely NO DESIRE at all to get a dual boiler. He very much enjoys his HX machine(true, its one of the best in the HX class), and will defend them to the death. Rightfully so, both make good coffee. Its the way you operate them that set them apart, and for the most part, I find dual boilers superior in that regard.

I wouldn't upgrade your machine right now. Id either buy a titan class grinder, or buy nothing, and buy the new machine and grinder together. The grinder should be at the very least, a Super Jolly. Really, if youre looking at top end dual boilers, you should have a top end grinder to go with it and be able to enjoy what the machine is capable of. The Super Jolly is the starting point. You can jump into a mazzer major(my preffered titan grinder, an absolute beast of a grinder), or go to a conical like the Compak K10 or Fiorenzato Doge Conico. THAT is where you'll see the improvement, even on your current machine, and definitely on an upgraded machine.

I wouldn't think so but worth is always highly subjective and the next person might think it to be worth while. To me, it's more of a sidestep as you're going from SBDU to SBDU. What grinder are you using?

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